World-leading mark in the men's mile highlight the UW Indoor Preview...
SEATTLE--What a way to open the 25th season of track and field at the Dempsey Indoor!
For starters, Australia's Cam Myers (Paul Merca photo), the world under-20 record holder in the mile, became the first man to break 3:50 in the mile this season, and oh by the way, break 3:50 at the Dempsey, as he ran 3:49.81.
Washington alum Rhys Hammond took the field through the quarter mile in 58 seconds, before Myers took the lead just before the half mile mark in 1:58.4.
Seattle resident Sam Prakel was the only one to go with Myers, but Myers gapped Prakel just before the 3/4 mile mark, which he crossed in 2:54.
Myers put on the gas to take the win in 3:49.81, the fastest time in the world, breaking the old facility record of 3:50.74 by Washington's Nathan Green, and the meet record of 3:52.61 set by Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha, then of the Nike Oregon Project.
Prakel hung on to take second in 3:54.27, just ahead of Brannon Kidder of the Brooks Beasts in 3:54.62.
Reuben Reina Jr., last year's SEC champ while at Arkansas, made his Dempsey debut as a Husky, finishing fourth in 3:55.26, just ahead of teammate Thomas Diamond in 3:55.33.
Yakima native Jonas Price of the University of Portland was sixth in 3:57.00, with the Huskies' Jamar Distel seventh in 3:57.33, and UW alum Joe Waskom eighth in 3:59.92.
That brings the total number of sub-4 miles run in the Dempsey to 368.
In the northeast corner of the Dempsey, as Myers crossed the line in the mile, Washington's Jimmy Rhoads was on the runway getting ready for his first attempt at 19-1 (5.82m), after winning the event by clearing 18-5.25 (5.62m) on his third attempt, and 18-9.25 (5.72m) on his first.
Rhoads cleared the bar with plenty to spare to set a new UW school record, and break the facility record of 19-0.75 (5.81m) held by current UW associate head coach Toby Stevenson set in 2004, the year he earned the Olympic silver medal in Athens.
CORRECTION: Rhoads' mark was NOT the world leader, as Zach Bradford and KC Lightfoot both cleared 19-4 (5.90m) the night before at the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno. In the original story, we stated that Rhoads held the 2026 world lead. We apologize for the omission.
UW teammate Eli Gault-Crabb finished second to Rhoads for the second straight meet, clearing 17-9.25 (5.42m).
Here's the vault:
Other highlights:
--In the women's 1000, Paris Olympic 800m finalist Juliette Whittaker of Stanford held off a late charge by Washington's Chloe Foerster to win in 2:37.54 to 2:37.79, the fastest time in the world this season.
In fact, the top three in the race--Whittaker, Foerster, and Washington State's Rosemary Longisa (2:38.26) all went under the previous 2026 world leading time of 2:38.71 by Russia's Liliya Mendayeva;
--Northern Arizona alum Maggi Congdon, a world championships semifinalist in the 800, won her specialty in a 2026 world leading time of 2:00.93, setting a meet record;
--While the time was rather modest by Dempsey standards, Washington State's Evans Kurui and Washington's Evan Jenkins waged a dual over the men's 3000 meters.
After the two pacers pulled off the track, Kurui was left alone by the rest of the field, as Kurui appeared to lift his foot off the gas pedal.
However, Jenkins, who was redshirted during the fall cross country season, used the same tactic that won him the B1G Ten 10000m title by using his sub-4 minute mile speed to catch Kurui at the line, winning 7:51.42 to 7:51.44.
--Central Washington's double NCAA champion Emy Ntekpere won the women's triple jump with a mark of 41-1.75 (12.54m), currently the number 3 mark in Division II, but ran into a buzzsaw in the high jump, as Stanford's Alyssa Jones cleared 6-3.25 (1.91m) to set a new meet record and jump the number 2 mark in the NCAA.
Ntekpere finished second at 5-10.5 (1.79m), which currently ties her for the Division II lead in that event.
--Though she finished fifth overall, Massachusetts high schooler Abigail Hennessy, who is a University of Washington commit, ran 9:15.79 to win her heat of the women's 3000. It's currently the fastest high school time so far this season.
NOTE: The University of Washington sports information office contributed to this report.
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